Protection

Engineered guide spacing provides a balanced approach to keeping both the rod and coupling off of the tubing wall. As guides affixed to the flexible rod body are spaced further apart, the side-load required to force and deflect the sucker rod into the tubing reduces, but the load to deflect the coupling and forged rod area, already the most stiff section of sucker rods, increases. Other guide manufacturers focus on the coupling region and forget the rod body can flex most easily under side-loads. RFG engineered our spacing and manufacturing process to prevent rod-on-tubing AND coupling-on-tubing contact throughout the entire assembly, not just the coupling region like competitors.

Design

Not all sucker rod guides are created equal. RFG and Martin Polymer Technology have redefined industry perception of guides. Since launching our Oklahoma City guiding facility in 2013, RFG Petro Systems has a 100% success rate in capturing customers after presenting the science, technology, and facts to the marketplace. We don’t sell plastics, we teach plastics, and let the customer make the decision. All our lab research, engineering efforts, and product development is realized through down-hole performance for rod and tubing protection.

Our company’s business exploded with the expansion of rod lift in the Eagle Ford. No other guide manufacturer was providing a material that performed, even though better resin materials were readily available from the same manufacturers. As RFG pioneered and set the bar on high temperature rod guide performance, new challenges have arisen. RFG’s rod guides are eclipsing the corrosion fatigue life of a sucker rod. The high temperatures and hydro-static fluid pressures in well-bore systems induce fluid between the guide and rod body on all guides. Add corrosive fluids to the mix, and you get corrosion under the guide. The corrosive, high pressure and high temperature environment of the Eagle Ford has presented its own set of challenges, and RFG continues to invest in solutions through its engineering efforts, testing and lab equipment to study these conditions.

Martin Polymer Technology creates thermal, mechanical, and dimensionally stable plastic components for oilfield use. This provides the best mechanical properties at down-hole conditions, of any plastic compound available on the market today, at a respectable price.

Finite Element Analysis

Our engineering team has a strong history in formal FEA training and consulting for many Fortune 100 companies, and we’ve taken advantage of the same technology and resources for our business. We’ve evaluated every scenario possible related to sucker rod guides, such as:

Sucker rod geometry and material

Room temperature, high temperature, under stress (strain), both tension and compression

Guide geometry

Room temperature, high temperature, fluid absorption and swelling

Guide materials

Room temperature and high temperature properties (plastics are not linear)

Competitors preach blatant lies related to guide spacing, materials, and geometry, and its effect on sucker rod operating dynamics. RFG’s development approach through FEA along with real world testing through our multiple compression-tension cyclic machines assures customers and industry that everything we produce is engineered and proven.